What Clients Should Keep in Mind Going in Family Law Courts

Clients often wonder “can I win my child custody in Riverside?”, or “can I win my Riverside divorce case?”. The answer always depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding their case.

However, no attorney should give clients “high” hopes about any case, because “you never know what can happen” in court.

Keep in mind several factors before you go to Court:

1. Lawsuits are like “cooking” (metaphorically) – 50% is about “preparation” and 50% is about “presentation”. If you do not have a well prepared case, it does not matter if your presentation is great…the judge may not be convinced with your argument, because your argument will be missing information. On the other hand, if you are well prepared for your case, but are not able to present it well, again the judge may not be convinced by your argument. So, both preparation and presentation are required to have a fighting chance in court.
2. Have “reasonable expectations” – Never go in court with “high” expectations. In many instances, experienced lawyers lose cases that were easy wins and inexperienced lawyers win cases that had little chance of winning. Always consider the possibility that something might go wrong and that you need to be mentally and emotionally (as well as financially) be prepared to handle such negative outcomes. Reason being, judges are unpredictable. You don’t know if your judge has experienced a high conflict divorce or custody battle in his or her personal life, or is paying child support. As such, you don’t know what sort of preconceived biases that judge will bring to the bench when he or she will preside over your case. Because of these unknown factors, do not have high expectations. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
3. No Guarantees. It does not matter whether you have an experienced attorney who has been practicing family law for 40 years and charges $1,000.00 per hour, or if you have a newly licensed attorney who passed the attorney license exam (BAR exam) yesterday and charges $150.00 per hour. Ultimately, it is up to the Judge to decide in whose favor he will rule. Just like God, you do not know if God will accept or reject your prayers; similarly, you do not know, at the end of the day, if the judge will decide in your favor or against you. Of course, Judges are not perfect, and that’s when you can try to use the appeals process to overturn a decision.

If you have a Riverside family law case, you should contact our Riverside family law attorney and find out what your rights are. That is the first thing you should do, and you MUST take advantage of this consultation. If you are not an attorney, or do not practice family law, you do not know your rights. It would be in your best interest to find out your rights. We offer FREE PHONE CONSULTATIONS 7 days a week.